Who "Killed" the Music Industry?

The music industry is changing rapidly, almost daily. As both a musician and music consumer, these changes have affected me two fold. It’s a scary and exciting time, like the California gold rush or the dotcom explosion in the 1990’s.

Personally, I think artists are more empowered today than ever before. You can record an album at your house, and in a matter of weeks it can be sold on the largest digital retailers in the world. That’s huge. Social networking sites have allowed for direct access to fans, online blogs are replacing magazines and newspapers, and more and more can be accomplished using mobile devices. So why, with all these great tools at our disposal, do we still hear so many doom and gloom stories about the end of music as we know it? ...